Farmers’ race for £233m funding like ‘scramble for Oasis tickets’

The Nature Friendly Farming Network (NFFN), which helps farmers to manage land in environmentally-friendly ways, criticised the “frantic scramble” and said farmers had “faced a desperate race against time” to secure their funding agreements.

Cambridgeshire arable farmer Martin Lines, who leads the NFFN, said: “This entire SFI system, with windows opening and closing within a few hours, isn’t fit for purpose.

“We need to find a better way based on continuous, whole-farm agreements, not doors that slam shut on day one because the money has already gone.”

He pointed out that after years of extreme weather, many farmers were relying on the funding to help adapt their farms to climate change and become more resilient.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said it would provide further information on future opportunities for funding applications in 2027 “soon”.

A Defra spokesperson said: “This year we ensured small farms and those new to SFI were prioritised – with an exclusive first window in the summer.

“In anticipation of high demand in the second window, ministers decided to allocate an additional £20m to the fund, on top the £50m announced by the prime minister in August, so that we could fund as many agreements as possible.”

Farming Minister Stephen Morgan added that the SFI had been designed to be simpler to apply for and that farmers had “responded in force”.

“This is a scheme that works for farmers, backs food production, and delivers practical, sustainable land management, supporting the aims of our farming roadmap, our long-term plan for English farming,” he said.